News In Context

In this episode, we explore how economic issues are often talked about in ways that minimize the needs of those who may not have the means to withstand recessions, contractions, or other economic downturns. This issue takes on greater urgency in an era of trying to control inflation… and deal with recent regional bank failures.

My guest is Lynn Parramore, writer and researcher with the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

In this episode, we explore how othering has led to increased marginalization and vilification of people who are un-housed, and how civity can help counter this trend by helping people who are housed see the humanity of those without housing.

My guest is Eric Tars, Legal Director of National Homelessness Law Center, who reminds us that housing is a human right. Tars hopes that helping people see each other’s humanity can bring this back into focus.

In this episode, we explore how engaging across our racial and class divides can help bring us together to care for and nurture our democracy.

My guest is Ian Haney López, professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, and author of several books, including Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class, and Merge Left: Fusing Race & Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America.

López says strategic racism is a deeply corrosive force, and he’s is exploring how to counter its effects by encouraging people to come together across racial divides, so we can focus on our commonalities… develop shared understandings of what we want from democracy and our elected officials, and work together to improve society.

López developed the Race-Class Narrative Project and the Race-Class Academy to counter dog-whistle politics and build cross-racial and cross-class solidarity.

This is Part Two of our interview. Hear Part One at NewsInContext.net.

In this episode, we explore the strategic use of racism in electoral politics to divide citizens across racial and other differences in an effort to retain power and wealth.

My guest is Ian Haney López, professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, and author of several books, including Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class, and Merge Left: Fusing Race & Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America.

López says strategic racism is a deeply corrosive force, and he’s is exploring how to counter its effects by encouraging people to come together across racial divides, so we can focus on our commonalities… develop shared understandings of what we want from democracy and our elected officials… and work together to improve society.

López developed the Race-Class Narrative Project and the Race-Class Academy to counter dog-whistle politics and build cross-racial and cross-class solidarity.

This is Part ONE of my interview with Ian Haney López. You can hear Part TWO next week.

In this episode, we explore a massive new study on improving the health of democracy. The Strengthening Democracy Challenge invited more than 30-thousand people to engage with 25 interventions. The goal was to find ways to reduce things like partisan animosity, partisan violence, and anti-democratic attitudes, and increase social trust and a willingness to engage with people across socially salient differences.

An intervention from the nonprofit, Civity, was one of 25 chosen from a pool of 250-plus… and it was number 1 at increasing social trust, number 2 in decreasing social distance and opposition to bipartisanshi, and number 4 in reducing partisan animosity.

Civity’s relational, story-based intervention also reduced support for un-democratic practices and helped people accept others from across the political divide.

We talk with researcher Robb Willer, professor of sociology, psychology, and organizational behavior at Stanford University; as well as Director of the Polarization and Social Change Lab… and Co-Director of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.

In this episode, we explore the Bay Area housing market, and how mass corporate ownership of homes and apartments throughout the region affects communities and people trying to afford to rent or buy here.

In this episode, we talk with Melissa Weintraub, founder & co-executive director of Resetting the Table. Resetting the table focuses on building dialogue and deliberation across political divides, focusing on seemingly intractable differences that are breeding distrust, a lack of empathy, and marginalization. To learn more about Resetting the Table, and to view the film Purple – which uncovers humanity beneath our national conflicts - go to resettingthetable.org/purple.

In this episode, we explore concepts of privilege - and how they color our systems and perpetuate inequities. We also discuss how building relationships across groups in a community can help us begin to address these systemic issues, while at the same time forging connections and building trust.

My guest is Jacqueline Font-Guzman, vice president for diversity, equity, & inclusion at Eastern Mennonite University; and strategic vision director for the Center of Justice & Peace Building at EMU.

It’s no secret that polarization is deepening divides across the US. Over the past few years, many people have started or joined what are called bridging organizations to try and bring people together across those divides and help people bridge their differences by cultivating relationships -helping us see each other’s humanity and connecting on commonalities. The hope is that this helps us work together to solve the problems in our communities and society.

In this episode, we welcome Graham Bodie, professor of integrated marketing communication at the University of Mississippi, and chief listening officer with the Listen First Project.

This is Civity Week on News in Context. Civity is a culture of deliberately engaging in relationships of respect and empathy with others who are different - moving people from us-versus-them to we-all-belong.

Listen First also bridges, focusing its efforts on elevating the impact, visibility, and voice of organizations doing bridging work

We explore how Listen First brings bridging organizations together, and works to bring more people to the experience of connecting across differences, and scale the work of bridging divides in communities across the U.S.

We also discuss the act of listening itself, the importance of learning how to listen, and what listening looks like in different contexts.

In this episode, we explore the sharp increase in fentanyl deaths across the country, including in San Francisco and the Bay Area, which had thus far had great success in combating the opioid epidemic.

My guest is Dr. Philip Coffin, director of substance use research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health - who discusses how fentanyl is different than other opioids, and what we can do to mitigate its impact.